Trip is 16, Lance is 12, Grant is 11, Leo is 10, Jemma is 9, Skye is 7 and Avalyn is six-months-old.
It was not much of a sweet sixteen for Trip. Sure he got presents, and cake, and the whole family and many friends were there for his big day – Coulson and May even invited his birth mother to his birthday – but it was on the night of that day that his mood dropped.
May had collected the mail early that day but had put away one letter that was address to the teenager. She decided that she'd only show it to him later than day, or maybe on the day after. He was turning sixteen and his day was supposed to be joyful. However, Trip found the letter by accident but completely understood why his parents had kept it a secret from him.
He walked to his bedroom and sat on his bed. Lance was snoring loudly across from him, sprawled on his bed. First, the teenager stared the front of the envelope. SHIELD's stamp was imprinted clearly, its black pattern contrasting with the pristine white paper. Then, his fingers traced, with a bittersweet feeling, the line where his name was written. He had grown fond of his family; it had been nine years living with them now, but the fact that the letter was address to Antoine Gabriel Triplett and not Antoine Gabriel Coulson saddened him. All the kids knew that, one day or another, they'd have to leave the Coulson's house and get back their old names, crawl back into their old lives, their old personas.
He drew a shaky, long sigh, pondering if it was best to open the letter then or later. He really wanted to know if he had made it into SHIELD's Academy or not. Obviously part of him didn't want to go, but another part was already aching to pack and leave and fulfill his dream of being a SHIELD agent and keeping the world safe. After all, he had tried his best to overcome his limits and excel at the fitness tests the week before. Trip gently ripped the envelope open and pulled the enclosed sheet of paper out. He read every line of the text carefully, which ended with the sentence:
Antoine Gabriel Triplett has fulfilled all required parameters present on the criteria to enroll in SHIELD's Academy. The cadet must be present at the Academy within one week of the date of issue of this letter to complete additional forms and begin the training course.
The next day, while all his siblings were at their extra-curricular activities and Jemma and Leo were down at basement-turned-lab, Trip went to tell his mother the news. She was folding tiny socks in her bedroom and Avalyn was sleeping in the crib at the foot of their bed. Trip walked into the bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed, staring down at his lap as his fingers played with envelope he held.
"What did it say?" May set the clothes aside and sat next to him.
He looked up at her and said almost expressionlessly, "I'm in."
The woman offered him a small smile and draped her arm around his shoulders, rubbing his arm for comfort and pressing a kiss to the side of his head, "I knew you'd get in."
"I need to be at the Academy before next Wednesday. Could use some help packing my stuff…"
"Sure," May nodded and got up. She said over her shoulder, "I'll try to find a suitcase in the basement. You can start gathering your things."
Trip nodded his head in agreement and watched his mother walk out of the bedroom. He could feel that she was feeling the same way he was: she wanted him to go but at the same time she wanted him to stay. When May met Trip at his and Lance's bedroom, the teenager had already laid out all his clothes over the bed. The two of them folded and put the clothes away in the suitcase in relative silence.
"I still remember my first day at the Academy," May reminisced.
"Were you nervous?"
"For a while. Then I saw him and the nervous knot in my stomach turned into butterflies. That was far more uncomfortable," she said with a smirk. "And he didn't make it any easier either. He was… well, he was being the same old Phil Coulson you know today. Even though I tried hard to fight the feeling, I just couldn't." May resumed folding the clothes, turning to Trip, "You'll make good friends there."
"I know," he nodded and offered a smile. "I'm thinking of telling the news to everyone tonight at dinner. What do you think Dad will say about it?"
"He'll be proud, I'm sure. You know, I was the one against you going to the Academy. I've been there, your father has been there, we know the risks of having this job -"
"This is what I want to do. I'm aware of the -"
"I know. And that's what you father told me too. He said it's in your blood and that I could try to stop it, but I'd only be delaying your decision. No matter what, I knew that one day you'd be going to the Academy and I'd have to live with it."
"But… you don't want me to go?"
May tossed the T-shirt she was holding over the bed to look at Trip, "I was twenty-four when I married and few months after that we just started having a bunch of children crowding our house. I'd be lying if I told you that I wanted to have a family. I mean, I wanted to get married and I wanted children but not that fast. At first I saw you all as assignments but then each one of you grew on me. So no, I don't want you to go but I know I have to let you."
Trip wrapped his arms around her middle and pulled her into a hug, resting his chin on her shoulder, "We'll all gonna be alright. You're doing an amazing job raising seven of us and I couldn't have had asked for better when I was adopted. I'm going away but you ain't getting rid of me."
"Good," May snickered, "because this house will still need your fun and your funk every now and then."
Avalyn's cry grew in volume and May parted the hug and waited a few seconds to get confirmation of the sound.
"Go get her," Trip said, "I'll keep on packing."
May found Avalyn stirring and whining softly in her crib, trying to kick away the blanket that had tangled around her legs. She giggled once she saw her mom and she raised her arms up, drooling and cooing things in her own language. The woman picked her up in her arms and dropped a kiss on her rosy cheeks, brushing away a few thin strands of hair off her forehead. She walked back to Trip's bedroom and Avalyn immediately let out a happy screech, leaning towards her brother.
"C'mere girl," he said, picking her up.
"Is that your grandfather's spy gear?" May asked as she noticed an old suitcase on the floor, opened.
"Yeah. I was taking a look at it. I think I'll leave it here. Maybe Leo can do some improvements on it?"
"Maybe you shouldn't, unless you want the gear to be all modified and upgraded with the latest technology improvements."
Trip chuckled, "I'll leave them to Dad then. He was super excited when I first showed it to him."
"Yeah, he tends to get a bit too excited when it comes to 40's stuff."
"I think she's hungry…?" Trip asked as he looked at his sister biting her own fingers, drool dripping down her chin.
May threw a quick glance at the clock and stated, "It is time for her to eat. Keep an eye on her while I prepare her formula?"
"Yeah, sure, take your time. I'll be showing Ava how cool the Howling Commandos' gear is."
May smiled and walked out the bedroom. Trip took a seat on the floor and sat Avalyn on his lap and showed her the vintage spy gear, explaining each object to her as if she understood. He grabbed the Noisemaker and spun it. Avalyn wanted to grab it, but instead she giggled once she heard the sound,
"Hey-ho friends! The enemy approaches! Careful now, or they'll win the day!"
"I'd say you like the Noisemaker," Trip remarked with a smile, spinning it again to see Avalyn's happiness.
May returned a few minutes later with Avalyn's sippy cup and gave it to her. She popped it in her mouth immediately, drinking the formula avidly since she had slept for longer than her usual so her hunger was more insistent than usual.
"Take it slow, Avalyn," May said, holding the cup for her. If she hadn't done so, Avalyn would have tilted her head and the cup all the way back and choke herself.
Avalyn grumbled between sucks and brushed off May's hand. She was hungry, why was her mom trying to stop her from drinking her milk? Trip chuckled, looking at his sister gripping her sippy cup in a tight grip.
"I have the feeling she's gonna drink everyone under the table when she's older."
"There's still a long way till that," May mused, stroking the girl's hair.
She sat Avalyn on the bed and rested her back against a pillow, to help her stay balanced, and resumed helping Trip pack his things.
Trip swallowed hard and tightened the grip on his duffel bag. May and Coulson stepped out of the car and walked him inside the Academy. It had been rough saying goodbye to everyone. Jemma and Skye couldn't stop crying, begging him not to go and 'study away from home'. Lance felt the burden of now being the oldest weighing down on his shoulders. Leo threw a tantrum and locked himself in his bedroom. Only Grant accepted reasonably well his foster brother's departure. He couldn't wait for the day he'd be going to the Academy as well. It wasn't hard to say goodbye to Sam either. Trip's friend was also departing, though he was going to a place much farther away: he was joining the US Air Force. Sam had a dream of becoming a pararescueman and he had been working to be at the peak of his fitness, to meet the parameters established by the Army.
Before heading to the Academy, May and Coulson drove Trip to his mother's apartment, which was in the toughest neighborhood of Harlem. The two waited outside the door, letting the mother and the son talk more intimately. The woman shared the same thought as Coulson: even if they wanted to stop him from joining SHIELD that was something that ran in his blood. Sooner or later he'd be following the same path as his grandfather. Before leaving, Trip left his mother with the promise that once he'd make enough money, he'd buy her a nice house in a friendly neighbor.
Coulson firmly put his hand on Trip's shoulder, "Well, this is it. Are you ready?"
Trip grinned, taking a moment to look at the building and the people, and then looked back at his parents, "Ready as I'll ever be. Granddad would be proud, right?"
"He'd be saying 'Damn, look at my boy'," Coulson said, offering a smile.
"Yeah," he chuckled, "But two things: one, my grandfather wouldn't say that; and two, don't try that again. It doesn't suit your personality."
"But it suits yours," May's smile was beginning to fade. "And if one thing is sure it's that we'll laugh a lot less at home without you there."
"I promised Jemma and Skye I'd Skype at least once a week, so…"
Coulson pulled Trip in for a hug and clapped his back, "You do good in there."
"I will, sir," Trip answered and then gave May a hug, "I'm gonna miss you guys. And thank you… for taking care of me."
"It's been our pleasure," May told him.
Coulson wrapped his arm around May's waist and the two watched as Trip walked in the Academy and disappeared among the other students.
"This is just the first time we have to deal with this," May commented as they walked back to the car.
"I know. It'll be hard to watch them leave but we can't keep them with us forever, can we?"
This last sentence summarizes things perfectly: they can't keep the kids forever.